Jean Hill

JEAN HILL was educated in Edinburgh, London and Manchester, and all three cities contributed to her lifelong passion for painting.  As a teenager in Edinburgh she had the library of a fine arts lecturer to browse through.  She gained her National Diploma in Design at St Martin's School of Art in London, and went to Manchester University for her teaching degree.
She has always painted, believing firmly in the immediacy of the hand and brush to express intellectual ideas.  Preferred materials for her abstract, semi-figurative and portrait work are water colour and acrylics on board.  She continues to teach at all levels, and lectures on women painters following research covering the past 400 years.
A small abstract painting by Jean featured in the 2001 Eastern Open exhibition at the Fermoy Art Gallery, and her work was also accepted by the Women Beyond Borders project run during 2000 from California. 
Jean's paintings have also been accepted by the London gallery of the Free Painters' Society and many other galleries over a career dedicated to the expression of visual ideas.		  
   

The golden tent
Acrylic on board
100cm wide x 60cm high
     
Armour - its visual shapes plus the protecting and limiting qualities - became an early theme for Jean after a visit to the Wallace Collection in London.  Women wearing the burka came later, following news reports during the war in Afghanistan.
These two major themes are related yet contain many contrasts.  Both conceal the body, yet one is soft, one shell-like.  Both limit freedom, yet one speaks defiance, the other anonymity.  Both are people, yet one is male, one female.
Concurrent themes are tents in many forms (also concealing and protecting) and a variety of imaginative floral representations. 'If you need to use words along with my pictures, you have a wide range of interpretations open to you,' says Jean.  'It could be a cry for help from someone immersed in a busy life.  Or a representation of the eternal conflict between aggression and compassion.
'But I chose these two powerful visual symbols as an opportunity to use the language I know best - colour, form, line and tone.  Poets, musicians, dancers and all artists constantly search for a subject through which they can express their art.
'The subject is only the starting point.  How you express yourself in the language you know best is what is important.'		  

Midnight knights
Acrylic on board
100x60cm
     
 

Portrait example
Acrylic on board
30x40cm
 COMMISSIONS undertaken Acrylic, Watercolour, or Drawings
     
   

Imaginary root with flowers
Watercolour
18x23cm

 
     
Jean Hill died unexpectedly on 28th February 2010, aged 81 years, painting right to the end. There are plans for a retrospective exhibition. For more information, please contact Ken Hill at the address or telephone number below.
4 King's Staithe Square
King's Lynn
Norfolk  PE30 1JE

Phone & fax 01553 763675                       
Website: JeanHillPaintings.com		  

Three women wrapped
Plastic crayon
21x14cm

 

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